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Micky Barnea, Managing Partner of Barnea, was interviewed last week by Globes newspaper. Micky spoke about his personal life and earlier career. He also shared his thoughts regarding Israel’s deteriorating status in the world which is keeping some foreign investors and businesses away from Israel. To read more, please click here

The housing cabinet, headed by Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, confirmed yesterday a long series of decisions made by the cabinet, relating primarily to relief on property prices.
The Financial magazine, Globes, published comments by certain real estate experts regarding these measures. One of the experts, Maya Zisser, a partner in the real estate department of our firm commented that she doubted whether the promises made will be fulfilled. 

The Israeli corporate governance rules discourage technology companies from listing on the TASE. However, with some simple steps this all can be changed.
Israel's position as the Startup Nation is reflected in the fact that multiple local technology companies are listed on the US and London Stock Exchanges. However, the TASE has never managed to make itself an attractive  target for Israeli high-tech companies. Thus, while many technology companies today prefer the purchase option of an initial public offering, such companies seeking to issue shares do not regard the TASE as an attractive or even relevant option. They prefer to turn to international exchanges.

Israeli startup Blender announced today that it had raised $5 million from Blumberg Capital. The company has raised $3.5 million since it was founded, not including the current round. 

Corporate Live Wire held a Banking & Finance Roundtable with experts from around the world, including Simon Jaffa. The international experts examined the recent regulatory changes and developments in each expert's respective jurisdiction.

Does the new summary report which was published by the  Israel Securities Authority on the subjects of dividend distributions and buy-backs of shares, place high barriers to the ability of boards of directors to pass future resolutions? 

On 18 May 2015, Plus500 , an AIM listed company, announced that the UK Financial Conduct Authority had demanded a review of its Anti-Money Laundering financial sanction systems and other related regulatory controls. Plus500UK Limited was obliged to suspend all transactions for existing customers until additional AML procedures have been implemented. Not surprisingly, the share price of Plus500 dropped dramatically. Globes, a leading Israeli newspaper, published an article, including interviews with experts in the field of company listings in London, analyzing what happened to the successful online securities trading company. As an expert in IPO’s in Israel and London, Micky Barnea stated that: The Plus500 matter would make it difficult for other Israeli companies in the industry to list on the stock exchange, even though AIM is the friendliest Stock Exchange for this industry.

As an expert in Labor law, Marie Tsion was interviewed in the economic section of "Yedioth Ahronot" regarding the employment of youths in the summer vacation. Marie elaborated on the relevant requirements for an employer who decides to hire youths.

Globes has revealed an affidavit by Dror Picard which is part of the dispute between the shareholders of Whitewater Water Technologies, which is in receivership with creditors owed about NIS 19 million.
In the affidavit, Mr. Dror Picard states that Hana Gertler admitted that Uri Yogev had deceived her as well, thereby inducing her to invest in Whitewater.
The claimant in the action, Benny Tisch, is represented by Barnea Tisch is claiming that Whitewater and Yogev made false representations and acted fraudulently, causing him to invest millions in Whitewater Holdings. 

StePac, which has developed and manufactured special packaging, has been sold to Johnson Matthey Investments for £18 million in cash by DS Smith, which owned all of StePac. Barnea represented DS Smith in the deal.

Global Entrepreneurship Network Israel, Barnea & Co Law firm, The Jerusalem Development Authority, JNext, The Jerusalem Municipality, The MIT Enterprise Forum - Israel,  Israel advanced technology industries, Made In Jerusalem and more leading hi-tech entities have organized for the 2nd time  a competition for early stage startups. The Israeli Company which wins StartUp Open will receive a package of services worth thousands of shekels and will automatically be entered into the list of the World's Top 50 Most Promising Startups, also known as the GEW50. Registration for StartUp Open Israel 2015 will be open until July 13th , 2015. After a thorough process of judging, the final round of the StartUp Open competition in Israel will be held at Jerusalem on September 7th, 2015 in front of an audience consisting of entrepreneurs, managers, investors, researchers, and government representatives.

Tadiran Holdings Ltd., controlled by Moshe Mamrod, is acquiring the gas distributor, Supergas, from Granite Hacarmel, a unit of Azrieli Group Ltd., for NIS 250 million. Micky Barnea and Ilan Blumenfeld represent Granite Hacarmel. 

As an Israeli expert in Banking & Finance, Adv. Simon Jaffa participated in a Q&A by the leading CorporateLivewire website.  Simon reviewed the recent regulatory changes in the area, key trends expected to be seen over the coming year.

Eli Reifman, former CEO of Emblaze, and managers at MCE Systems are being sued by a Romanian company,TDT Specialist SRL, for 63 NIS million. TDT is represented by Adv. Zohar Lande and Adv. Gal Livshits. 

As part of our collaboration with Startau, Tel Aviv University's Entrepreneurship Center, our firm hosted today a student delegation from Peru. The event included lectures by Adv. Micky Barnea, managing partner and by Lior Weizman, Eco System development Manager Cloud, Start ups and Academia, From IBM.

Micky Barnea, Managing Partner and Head of the Technology department published an article in the IVC annual high-tech book. In the article, Micky asserts that although online financial trading is focused on financial tools, the ability to innovate is a key ingredient in the success of online financial trading companies. As such, they should be treated as high-tech companies.

Senior industry figures from a host of FX companies met top venture capital investors in Tel Aviv, Israel today at the conference hosted by Barnea and the IVC. To read more, please click here

Barnea was pleased to be one of the sponsors of and to participate in the British Embassy’s party to honor the Queen’s birthday. The British Ambassador to Israel, Matthew Gould, and his wife, Celia, hosted 1000 guests at the Ariel Sharon Park Recycling Mountain. The event was focused on UK/Israel collaboration in technology, with a showcase of Israeli innovation, in partnersip with the UK.

Micky Barnea, managing partner of Barnea, and Koby Simana, CEO of IVC Online, in a joint interview focused on the area of financial trading platforms. In the interview Micky discusses the effects of the new Israeli regulations pertaining to the activities of trading platforms. These regulations will come into effect on May 26, 2015.

Last week Teva and Cellcom announced voluntary retirement plans for certain employees.  Teva offers early retirement to 200 employees. The plan includes a retirement package on particularly beneficial terms, markedly higher than what prevails in the market.

Cellcom offers  every employee with 30 months or more of seniority the possibility to terminate his work at the group, with a substantial economic parachute in the form of especially generous retirement terms. The plan includes an attractive basket of benefits with a limited number of places.
Starting now and during an entire month, all company employees meeting the seniority criterion can submit a request to management for inclusion in the plan.

Following those offers, Marie Tsion was interviewed by Globes and discussed the influence of workers' committees: "Once there is a worker's committee and  convergence of interests - a voluntary retirement plan is the best solution. An Employer understands that in this way it will achieve maximum results and pay less, eventually. If the CEO feels he has a partner he will always prefer the dialogue ".